In next generation wireless networks, a block acknowledgement (BA) mechanism may be employed in which a single acknowledgement frame is used to acknowledge the successful receipt of a number of data frames. During a BA transaction, a first network device (called the originator) may transmit data frames to a second network device (called the recipient) in a series of BA windows. Within each BA window, the originator may transmit a number of consecutive data frames to the recipient. After the frames have been transmitted, the originator may transmit a BA request to the recipient requesting that the recipient acknowledge receipt of the transmitted data frames. The recipient may then respond by transmitting a BA response to the originator that indicates which of the originally transmitted data frames were successfully received and which were not. If one or more of the transmitted data frames were not successfully received, the originator may retransmit the frames in a future BA window.
When the recipient receives data frames from the originator, it may temporarily store the frames within a receive buffer according to the sequence numbers associated with the frames. The data frames may then be read in sequence from the receive buffer. If the receive buffer becomes full, the transfer of data frames from the originator to the recipient will stall. This will typically result in reduced throughput and link utilization in the wireless network. There is a need for techniques and structures that are capable of enhancing throughput in a wireless network link during block acknowledgement bursting operations.